that was an ugly sight. >> this morning, will the daytona 500 go on after a crash sends debris into the stands hurting fans. and pope benedict xvi prepares to step down. there he is addressing the hundreds if not thousands gathered to see him. i am richard jordan. >> i am angie goff. it's sunday, february 24th, 2013, and we will have more from the vatican. first, we want to get over to your weather. >> let's go to meteorologist,

chuck bell, and he has the forecast. >> good morning to both of you, and good morning, everybody, winter is here. you said it was going to be sunny today, and it is, you have to wait a couple hours for the sunshine. right now temperatures in the 30s and 40s, so not terribly cold, but there's light sprinkles down to the south along i-95 down to the south and a few sprinkles across frederick, maryland, as well. on your way out the door this morning a couple sprinkles and showers but that won't last long and we will have sunshine by lunchtime. a double homicide overnight. police were called before 2:00 this morning to a report of shots fired off new hampshire avenue. officers found two men dead in a driveway. no word on their identities or the search for a gunman.

right now pope benedict xvi, we saw he is giving his final sunday blessing. the pope is stepping down on thursday and we want to take you to vatican city live. it has been a busy morning at vatican square, and the pope delivers one of his final public appearances and he has been head of the catholic church for eight years, and it's suggested he is stepping down to document leaks, and the pope maintains he is leaving because of health conditions. and cardinal donald whirl is heading to the vatican. he will first hold mass here in northeast d.c. he is one of 11 u.s. cardinals that will pick the next pope, and that collection will happen

sometime next month. now to the sequestration showdown. congress returns to work with only a few days to prevent massing spending cuts. they are trying to prevent the so-called sequester, and that would splash defense spending, and education, and other services. that will happen this friday everything lawmakers are able to reach a deal. the sequester is a main topic at the national governor's association. they are calling on governors to work quickly, but governors seem pessimistic, and they are calling on congress to find a middle ground before the americans feel the affects of deep cuts. >> the sequestration was designed by the administration and congress as something so repellant that it would force

both sides to a compromise. >> president obama will host the governors at the white house for a dinner tonight and the association's summit wraps up tomorrow. and john kerry will travel on his first overseas trip as the nation's top diplomat. he is calling it a listening tour. kerry heads to the kingdom. and then a crash at the speed way. a man that was 50 yards away the crash said it started raining debris, and he was not hurt. francis coe has more on what happened. >> reporter: coming out of the final turn in daytona, drivers

jockeying for position caused a collection that sent one car airborne. >> the smoke and car sideways was all i saw. >> the debris from the car including tires and the engine flew into the grandstand where fans were seated to watch the race. >> we had emergency medical personnel at the incident immediately. >> the personnel treated 14 at the infield care center and 14 others were transported to local hospitals ppb. >> i have been to nascar for races for several years and never seen nothing like it. i know it's a lot of people hurt out there, and i am just rooting for them. >> and safety officials are at the scene. >> the 32 number car was left in pieces and the entire front end sheared off by the collision. all the drivers involved in the

cash walked away unharmed. >> i have never seen anything like that. that is one of the times when i wish i didn't have a rear view mirror, because that was an ugly sight. >> and workers to repair the grandstand area, and the fence. in preparation for sunday's famed running of the 55th daytona 500. >> the nascar world is reacting to the crash this morning including the racer who will make history today. last night danica patrick tweeted hope and pray all the fans are okay after that big crash. she silenced her critics after pinning the pole position for today's race, and she is the first woman to do so in the male-dominated sport. if you are headed out on the roads early this morning -- >> we are back with a number of traffic alerts happening right now that may slow down your

commute. and then the emergency that has a zoo shut down and people thankful to be on the ground. >> and we will be back with your forecast next. and we want to take you out live to the vatican where the pope is giving his final blessing before steppin

we have a traffic alert for you this morning. right now inspections on the woodrow wilson memorial bridge could cause delays at time, and the drawbridge will be fully open and that will keep traffic from getting through, and that will last until 8:00 this morning. and the express ramps are closed because of repairs, and those will impact you that use it to get to the inner loop, and

both ramps are expected to re-open around 8:00 this morning, and a much different story than what we saw on the roads yesterday. >> yeah, i don't see any rain slowing down anybody today. >> yeah, there are rain drops and there are not a lot and they will be all the way gone, and there are a couple spots getting a little bit of light rain. this is not going to last. the sunshine will be back. outside, taking a check, cloudy skies ruled the overnight hours and as we get our sunday started, an awful lot of low clouds and even a little bit of patchy fog and light rain can be found outside, and not a very good view of the city of washington this morning. i cannot see the blinking light at the top of the monument, and the cloud deck is higher than the monument.

winds out of the northwest at 8 miles per hour, and that wind is part of the reason i am so confident the sunshine will be coming back today. metro temperatures, 40 degrees in rockville, and 41 degrees down in camp springs, and 41 in hunting town. what is the rest of the day looking like? cloudy and sprinkles around early this morning and we will break into sunshine around 9:00 or 10:00, and we will have sunshine and a refreshing breeze this afternoon, and highs should be about 51 degrees in hometown, and charles town, west virginia, cloudy skies and up through 9:00, 10:00, 11:00 this morning, and charles town, a high up near 45, and back in the 30s for your sunday evening. here is storm team 4 radar. the patch of showers racing across parts of lower southern maryland, and heading into st. mary's county, and just a couple

sprinkles and spritz across northern most howard county, and this is all part of an area of low pressure that is off the coastline as it races away and the cold front pushes it out that's where the north west wind comes from. high pressure will dominate for today and tomorrow. clear skies overnight and a bright and sunny monday, once again, enjoy the sunshine while it's here because rain chances and maybe a chance for snow coming in as we get into tuesday. not going to be measuring the snow in inches, and probably just occasional flakes. for today, breezy for sure. and this morning, cloudy on the wet to damp side outside, and temperatures in the 30s and low 40s, and by this afternoon sunshine is back and northwest winds 15 to 25 miles per hour and tonight into the evening hours clear skies and turning chilly, and temperatures falling back into the 30s. here is your 7-day forecast. 51 with a nice breeze outside today. and 50 degrees tomorrow.

and then as we get into tuesday, clouds return and a chance for rain drops for most, and snowflakes for some, and probably out towards interstate 81, northern maryland, and even that will change over to rain very quickly during the day as temperatures soar to near 50 degrees on tuesday afternoon, and tkphraoeuf with the rain drops ending wednesday and a chance for a shower or two on thursday, and then chilling most of march. >> what does that mean? >> march, it either comes in like a lionish -- >> i didn't know that was a word. >> i am making things up. it's 6:14 right now. and "reporter's notebook" is next. >> we will be back in 15 minutes with sunday's top stories. good morning, everybody. a lot to get to this sunday morning. let's start out in prince georges county and a story that

has everybody talking and shaking their heads. seven teens shot, and what is behind this and what needs to be done, gentlemen? >> there are larger discussions about values that are going on, and that's going to be a very subjective situation. but there's the larger national conversation going on about gun rights and gun control, and i am really hard pressed to see how in the light of activity like this in communities that one could press for unfettered access to guns on any level. i think that, you know, there was a column last week that talked about the incarceration rate of young people, and that ultimately the school to prison pipeline was as thin as a straw. i am thinking that we have had a generation of children that have come of age now where parenting

may be questionable, and education incentives may be questionable but if a kid is not taught from the age of 0 to 5 years to be reading or reading ready by the time they get to elementary school, we know what the out comes of their lives are going to be i suspect. >> there are people talking about more control over parents and even locking parents up in jail if their kids can't be controlled and there is that talk in the community, too, that parents should be held more responsible for these kinds of things. and i will tell you, jim, all of us have covered these stories over the past 20 years in d.c. in this region, and we hear it over and over and over again. i don't know. the faith-based community, we need to turn more to that, because i think a lot of the parents do go to church, but it seems like there's a disconnect between the church and the young

generation today. >> i think -- it's all also all of the above is what i want to say. but it's a value issue. it's really a question of what kind of community do we want? and that means we all have a stake, so you mentioned parents. you can hold parents accountable and put them in jail but most of these parents have more than one child, so what do you do with the other children. it's a question of what do we -- for example, you have young people that listen to disk jockeys if they call them that anymore, and what is there responsibility, and what is the responsibility of a teacher or news person, and what is the responsibility of every single person in the community to determine the value of your community? that's what you really are going to have to address is what kind of community do you want and

everybody has a stake and a responsibility. >> well, point well made. and let's look specifically at the value in one of these cases where five young men were arrested in connection to a murder and as jim pointed out, it was because of tenny shoes. there's no tennis shoes that will come into my house that is $200. how do we place value on something that is so negligible. and i remember my father, may he rest in peace, he said to me, in '60 something when the tides started to change in terms of ecology, he said we will get the valuable but i don't know if we have the values. >> but you are addressing my point. >> absolutely. >> and it started there at the home. i guarantee you, it probably was reinforced with the teacher and the classroom, and probably reinforced with the administrator who was looking over the teacher, and if you did not have -- i used to call it the trilogy. it was home, school, and church.

those are the three things that impacted my community, my church and my school. >> right. >> those are the three things that impacted my youth more than anything else, and all of the subcomponents that went with it. look, we sit here and we cut athletic programs, and we cut art and music, and, you know, we tell children, unfortunately, we don't have the money to really invest in the things you think are valuable, so guess what children do? they turn to tennis shoes, and they are willing to shoot you because they think that is more valuable than their own value. >> yeah. you mentioned cuts. >> yes. >> and we can certainly talk hours about the topic we just addressed but throughout our region governments are bracing for the cuts, and the impact, and we are talking about revenue and furloughs particularly in the greater washington region. >> yeah, well, you see there are

tens of thousands of jobs that hang in the balance here, and of course washington is recession proof because the government jobs, and in a case like this when things are shut down, you can look at the national mall, and rock creek park, and it's going to have an impact across the community. >> and the fact that already they are saying that people in the pentagon and people in government will be hurting, but when you think about the contractors in this area that depend on the jobs, and not only contractors but the little mom and pop store that won't be able to sell the goods they are selling because we are talking about an economic shutdown. >> it's not just government. a lot of private businesses out there. >> it's a an economic shutdown if this goes through, and hopefully there will be compromise at the last minute. >> i don't think it happens.

we know what happens in foreign countries with austerity deals. the government buys everything from toilet paper and satellites, and it's not just the people who are employed by the government, the reality is that they buy things and they buy things for what, private businesses. this is crazy, and here is what is going to happen. now it's the blame game. so who is to blame? i think the reality is these people need to be talking to their congressmen, but guess whose salaries are not going to be cut? >> congress. >> thank you. >> and head start -- >> i had a guy called my show and he said he has a second grader, and last year there were 20 second graders -- last year, the teacher had 20 kids in the room and this year in the second

grade, and there are 30 7-year-olds in one classroom. we have to take a break, and a lot more to get to on this edition of "reporter's notebook." stay with us.

welcome back. a lot of talk and speculation that our d.c. mayor, vincent gray, might be running again. he is looking and sounding more and more like a candidate. what do you think the chances are of that? >> why not. if youook at the city right now and exclude the problems that he has had with his campaign, and the investigations and all, a lot of people on the streets will say he's not a bad mayor. d.c. has really come along. development is up. he is talking about new plans for healthy d.c., and one city, one nation, and one city is his

theme, so a lot of people in the community -- i went to an event last week where pretty much his constituency out of ward five, ward seven and ward eight actually participated in the event. and it showed the stronghold that vince gray still has in the city. >> joe, he makes a good point. we have the tremendous surplus, and he is taking new initiatives with like lines, and gardens on roof tops -- >> i am not that excited about roof top gardens. >> nor is marion barry on that one. >> but if he can get past the legal issue that is overshadowing this whole possible run, i think he's -- he's a mayor who is at the right time at the right place. for example, look at all the

construction. now the reality is that's not his initialation. those are usually projects that were started by previous mayors, but the mayor who is in office at the time the cranes go up get the credit for it, and that always happens. >> sure. >> so the reality is, jerry is 100% correct, if he decides to run he is sitting beautifully, and i think he will probably be able to dry up most of the money. >> one of the big projects, and not to cut you off, jim, is the convention center, that hotel, it's a heck of a complex, and it started ten years ago, we know, but the mayer will get lots of credit for it. >> he will get to cut the ribbon when the doors open. >> it will bring big revenues to the city because the biggest complaint about the convention center is it doesn't have the facilities to cover it. >> and who can successfully

mount a campaign and win. and number two, he is a man clothed in immense power, and he will go kicking and screaming, and we have known him for a long time and he has always been about service and he is committed to serving the city, and i don't see him walking away from that lifelong commitment. >> and if i can take a couple seconds and make a prediction and stepping out on the limb. ward seven, ward eight, ward five, ward four, and ward one. those are the wards that vince gray could walk with. >> let's talk about an at-large council. you raised a healthier city is what the mayor wants. vincent gray has come up with an idea to extend the ban on smoking when it pertains to playgrounds and it could encompass parks throughout the city and we are talking about hundreds of blocks where smoking could conceivably be banned.

>> well, i don't know what vincent orange is talking about and he comes up with the initiatives where people say, okay, that's vincent orange. they have a ban on smoking around playgrounds and they had a very good justification for it because secondhand smoke would affect children. how well is this going to work in the nation's capital with vince orange, i don't know. >> progressive cities seem to be at the forefront of movements like this, and i remember in the '80s, where everybody was smoking in the office and then all of a sudden everybody is standing outside smoking cigarettes in 30-degree weather. and d.c., i think joe mentioned earlier, montgomery has a similar ordinance in effect. i think we have bigger fish to fry. >> you can walk around the nbc building and i love looking at all the photographs, and you can

see on the set, you know, of "meet the press," and -- >> yeah, in the day. >> every soap opera, a cigarette and cup of coffee. >> the law is passed and the law gets enforced and the policy is passed and it gets informed. i understand the health reason, and it's enforcing these laws, and it's the enforcement. what police officer is going to stop and right yskand write you smoking? >> yeah, there are more important things. >> the laws are good, but they don't get enforced. >> we have about a minute left, and down in virginia, quickly, they are talking about really putting teeth into the texting behind the wheel law. this bill would raise the first offense from about 20 bucks to 250, and a second offense all the way up to 500. >> i would put them in jail. if you ask me, i just think that -- look, we have seen the destruction and death that can

it cause. it's as dumb as putting on makeup or trying to read a newspaper while driving. >> the lawmaker, rich anderson, out of woodbridge had a neighbor walk-up to him and said his kid was killed because somebody was texting while driving, and there are real stories attached to this, and as joe said, real danger involved. >> you can say what you want but it has legs and it will be a big national issue. >> it has passed the house and senate and on the way to the governor now. gentlemen, thank you for coming in and great to see you as always. you had a big interview with the president. >> it was interesting. >> can i have your autograph. >> he may charge you. >> you get 15%. >> i am your agent now. now back to "news4 today." enjoy the rest of your sunday, everybody.